Blonde Tube-Top Lady

A lot has been going on the past week or so...I started school, took two baby classes and lost my pregnant walking partner (she had her baby, I didn't really lose her). I'm trying to keep up with everything and finding that I just can't do everything the way I used to, or the way I want to. Somethings have to give I suppose, I'm just not sure what at this point.

Last week we took "Surviving the First Month" at the hospital. My mom and Ed came with us. It was nice to have the support. There was a girl in front of us who was all by herself, and that sort of helped remind me how lucky I am to have my family so close. We learned how to swaddle, change diapers and bathe BHR...Greg got the swaddling down. His baby looked just like the diagram. Mine was a bit more disheveled, but I think it will do the trick. I had a hard time with the "hushing" technique ... this is where you "sssshhhh" the baby in the ear as loudly as they are crying. Apparently that's what it sounds like in my womb, so it's supposed to be soothing. I just found it creepy and a bit irritating.

We also took "Ready, Set, Deliver" on Saturday. I'm finding that I'm just disliking people for no reason these days. Mostly people I don't know, which doesn't make it any better, but honestly that girl should know that her big, blond head was in my way! Don't you think?!

The class was a lot better than I expected ... our teacher was this sort of hippy lady with an odd shaped face. I have been so uncomfortable these days that I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through a class from 9:00am - 5:00pm, but I was able to sit on an exercise ball throughout most of the class and that really helped.

We learned different breathing techniques, none of which I think I will remember when I actually go into labor, so let's hope Greg does and then she proceeded to demonstrate what a contraction might feel like, and then how the breathing techniques might help us ... this is where she lost me. She had Greg pinch me for a minute so that I could breathe through the pain. I didn't like this at all! I didn't like her telling someone to do something to me without my permission! Not that this was news to me, but I really don't like being told what to do ... let's hope BHR takes after Greg, he was perfectly fine with following instructions.

Back to the pinching ... how does that feel like a contraction? I got that I was supposed to breathe through it, but seriously lady? If that's what a contraction why is labor so scary? Why do things rip and tear and stretch and pull?

We also watched some videos of people actually going through child birth. I didn't find them as gross as I thought I would, but what I did find unsettling was the epidural! Now I'm not only afraid of natural child birth, but I am also afraid of having a giant needle go into my spine! Cheese and Rice, why is it so scary?!

Greg said that if I wanted to, I could probably do a natural childbirth, and he's probably right, but up until this point I was very set on receiving an epidural. I'm not trying to prove anything in labor, I'm not trying to beat anyone or challenge anyone or challenge myself even. All I want is a healthy BHR. I'm pretty sure I'm going with the epidural ... it can't be any worse than slamming your finger in a door, barfing all over the place, having shots in the finger that was slammed in the door, and getting 14 stitches to hold the nail on, right?

On a slightly different note ... so we are sitting in the class and this girl in front of me is wearing a black tube top. I start feeling jealous that she's able to wear a strapless bra and still able to wear a tube top, not that I ever was a big tube top wearer, but you get my point. Then I noticed something that made me feel better, when she sat in a chair, her back smush would smush up over the top of the tube top and up over the top of the chair. I feel bad, but that made me feel so much better! Even though I probably have a significant amount of back smush myself, the fact that I'm not prancing around in a tube top probably lessens the display of smush that the people around me have to endure ... so, in conclusion, even though I was jealous of blond, tube-top lady at first, she helped to show me that even if I could wear a strapless bra because my boobs were tiny enough to fit in one, I probably wouldn't want to because my back smush would leak over chairs.